Concert to feature multimedia, electroacoustic compositions

Contact: Cara Barnes
Photo of a multimedia screen.

The concert will feature works by faculty as well as a composition student.

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University composition faculty will present their works at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, in the Dalton Center Recital Hall.

The performance will be preceded by a 7 p.m. discussion hosted by Dr. Robert White. Tickets are $12 general admission, $10 for seniors and $5 for students, and are available from Miller Auditorium at millerauditorium.com/som or by calling (269) 387-2300 or (800) 228-9858.

The concert will feature a wide variety of multimedia and electroacoustic works. Christopher Biggs' piece "Decoherence" for trumpet, live electronics, and video will be performed by WMU trumpet professor Scott Thornburg. Decisions made during the performance by Thornburg will change the video in real time.

"Music Painted from Memory" for violin, cello and video by Lisa R. Coons depicts the small farming community where she grew up. Richard Johnson's work "Mushashi" for flute, electronics and video is guided by concepts from the seventeenth-century "Book of Five Rings." Also featured is John Gibson's mesmerizing "Blue Traces" for piano and electronics, which evokes swimming in the ocean at night and marveling at the colorful glow cast from bioluminescent plankton.

Finally, WMU composition student Matthew Fountain will premiere a new work for marimba and surround-sound electronics.

Bullock Music Performance Institute

Established in the fall of 1985 and renamed in 1988 in honor of its founder, the institute's mission is to add to the already rich cultural life of Kalamazoo by creating opportunities to develop closer personal and artistic ties between audience and performer. The institute has presented events ranging from formal evening concerts to daytime educational outreach events for students and local audiences of all ages.

For more information about the Wednesday evening concert series, call (269) 387-4704 or (269) 387-4678, or visit wmich.edu/music.

For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.